The station is at 3,488 metres (11,444 ft) above sea level and is one of the most isolated established research stations on the Antarctic continent.[2] The station was supplied from Mirny Station on the Antarctic coast.[3] The station typically contains 25 scientists and engineers in the summer. In winter, their number drops to 13.[4]

In 1974, when British scientists in Antarctica performed an airborne ice-penetrating radar survey and detected strange radar readings at the site, the presence of a liquid, freshwater lake below the ice did not instantly spring to mind.[6] In 1991, Jeff Ridley, a remote-sensing specialist with the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at University College London, directed a European satellite called ERS-1 to turn its high-frequency array toward the center of the Antarctic ice cap. It confirmed the 1974 discovery,[7] but it was not until 1993 that the discovery was published in the Journal of Glaciology. Space-based radar revealed that the sub-glacial body of fresh water was one of the largest lakes in the world – and one of some 140 subglacial lakes in Antarctica. Russian and British scientists delineated the lake in 1996 by integrating a variety of data, including airborne ice-penetrating radar imaging observations and spaceborne radar altimetry. Lake Vostok lies some 4,000 meters (13,000 ft) below the surface of the central Antarctic ice sheet and covers an area of 14,000 km² (5,400 sq mi).[8]

Professor Kudryashov's Drilling Complex Building: The drilling complex building stands close to Vostok Station at an elevation of 3488 m. It was constructed in the summer season of 1983–1984. Under the leadership of Professor Boris Kudryashov, ancient ice core samples were obtained. The building has been designated a Historic Site or Monument (HSM 88), following a proposal by Russia to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.[10]

Vostok Station has an ice cap climate (EF), with subzero temperatures year round, typical as with much of Antarctica. Annual precipitation is only 22 millimetres (0.87 in) (all occurring as snow),[11] making it one of the driest places on Earth. On average, Vostok station receives 26 days of snow per year.[11] Average summer temperature is −31.9 °C (−25.4 °F) and average winter temperature is −68 °C (−90 °F). It is by far the coldest spot on earth, with the lowest recorded temperature being −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F). The highest recorded temperature was −14.0 °C (6.8 °F). It is also one of the sunniest places on Earth, despite having no sunshine at all between May and August; there are more hours of sunshine per year than even the sunniest places in South Africa.[12] Vostok has the highest sunshine total for any calendar month on Earth, at an average of 708.8 hours of sunshine in December, or 22.9 hours daily. It also has the lowest sunshine for any calendar month, with an absolute maximum of 0 hours of sunshine per month during polar night.[13]

Source #2: Pogoda.ru.net (records only except for August record low),[15] (August record low)[16]

Panoramic photo of Vostok Station showing the layout of the camp. The striped building on the left is the power station while the striped building on the right is where researchers sleep and take meals. The building in the background with the red- and white-striped ball on top is the meteorology building. Caves were dug into the ice sheet for storage, keeping cores at an ideal −55 °C (−67 °F) year-round. (Credit: Todd Sowers LDEO, Columbia University, Palisades, New York.)

Vostok is the coldest place on Earth. The average temperature of the cold season (from April to October) is about −65 °C (−85 °F), while the average temperature of the warm season (from November to March) is about −42 °C (−44 °F).[2]

The lowest reliably measured temperature on Earth of −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F) was in Vostok on 21 July 1983 at 05:45 Moscow Time,[17][18] which was 07:45 for Vostok's time zone, and 01:45 UTC (See List of weather records). This beat the station's former record of −88.3 °C (−126.9 °F) on 24 August 1960.[16] Lower temperatures occurred higher up towards the summit of the ice sheet as temperature decreases with height along the surface.

The coldest wind chill was −124 °C (−191 °F) on 24 August 2005 with a real temperature of −74 °C (−101 °F).

Though unconfirmed, it has been reported that Vostok reached a temperature of −91 °C (−132 °F) on 28 July 1997.[19]

The warmest recorded temperature at Vostok is −14.0 °C (6.8 °F), which occurred on 5 January 1974.[15]

The coldest month was August 1987 with a mean temperature of −75.4 °C (−103.7 °F) and the warmest month was December 1989 with a mean temperature of −28 °C (−18 °F).[14]

In addition to the extremely cold temperatures, other factors make Vostok one of the most difficult places on Earth for human habitation:

A polar night that lasts approximately 120 days, from late April to mid-August, including 85 continuous days of civil polar night (i.e. too dark to read, during which the Sun is more than 6 degrees below the horizon.)[20]

Acclimatization to such conditions can take from a week to two months and is accompanied by headaches, eye twitches, ear pains, nose bleeds, perceived suffocation, sudden rises in blood pressure, loss of sleep, reduced appetite, vomiting, joint and muscle pain, arthritis, and weight loss of 3–5 kg (7–11 lb) (sometimes as high as 12 kg (26 lb)).[citation needed]

420,000 years of ice core data from Vostok, Antarctica, research station. Current period is at left. From bottom to top: insolation at 65°N due to Milankovitch cycles (connected to 18O); 18O isotope of oxygen; levels of methane (CH4); relative temperature; levels of carbon dioxide (CO2).

In the 1970s the Soviet Union drilled a set of cores 500–952 m deep. These have been used to study the oxygen isotope composition of the ice, which showed that ice of the last glacial period was present below about 400 metres' depth. Then three more holes were drilled: in 1984, Hole 3G reached a final depth of 2202 m; in 1990, Hole 4G reached a final depth of 2546 m; and in 1993 Hole 5G reached a depth of 2755 m; after a brief closure, drilling continued during the winter of 1995. In 1996 it was stopped at depth 3623 m, by the request of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research that expressed worries about possible contamination of Lake Vostok. This ice core, drilled collaboratively with the French, produced a record of past environmental conditions stretching back 420,000 years and covering four previous glacial periods. For a long time it was the only core to cover several glacial cycles; but in 2004 it was exceeded by the EPICA core which, whilst shallower, covers a longer time span. In 2003 drilling was permitted to continue, but was halted at the estimated distance to the lake of only 130 m.

The ancient lake was finally breached on 5 February 2012 when scientists stopped drilling at the depth of 3,770 metres and reached the surface of the sub-glacial lake.

Although the Vostok core reached a depth of 3623 m the usable climatic information does not extend down this far. The very bottom of the core is ice refrozen from the waters of Lake Vostok and contains no climate information. The usual data sources give proxy information down to a depth of 3310 m or 414,000 years.[22] Below this there is evidence of ice deformation. It has been suggested that the Vostok record may be extended down to 3345 m or 436,000 years, to include more of the interesting MIS11 period, by inverting a section of the record.[23] This then produces a record in agreement with the newer, longer EPICA record, although it provides no new information.